Communism 1.0: Theoretical Communism | James Lindsay

The EVILution of Communism Workshop, Session 1

Communism is a religious view that has evolved and adapted over the last two centuries, including right up to the present day. Understanding the developments and threats in our present world requires understanding what Communism really is, especially in its Marxist variants, and how it has developed and changed over the years. In response to this need, James Lindsay of New Discourses held a four-lecture workshop series on the EVILution of Communism in Dallas, Texas, at the start of August 2024.

In the first of these lectures, Lindsay outlines the basics and origins of Communism both as a practical endeavor and as a sociognostic religious movement. He begins by outlining the broader theosophical and occult-mystical nature of a broad suite of belief systems and discusses how they began to graft themselves onto social, political, and economic programs in the middle of the Modern Period. This gives them new expression, although their fundamental core beliefs remain mostly unchanged. Using this foundation, Lindsay discusses the "crude" Communism of Gracchus Babeuf during the French Revolution and contrasts it against Karl Marx's "transcendent" Communism as described in his early writings. Discussing nineteenth century Communism sets the stage and table to discuss the evolution of this religious movement through the twentieth and into the twenty-first century.

The other three lectures in this series can be found here:

Session 2Communism 2.0Industrial Communism

Session 3Communism 2.5Social Communism

Session 4Communism 3.0Corporate Communism

Notes (PDF)

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